I'm from the US (fifth district) and it seem the price of the 339 is a little over $700 shipped, I told myself if I go up that price range I would go for a baby Sophia which I won't.

I also notice its output isn't that much. I guess it's more synergy that makes it sounds good? They do look nice though except I think it would look better with a black casing.

From experience owning many many amplifiers, I would avoid going the route of tube amplifiers, especially if you're running a budget. It's easy to get caught up in "tube rolling" and you'll end up flushing a ton of money into it. Additionally, tube amplifiers are far far less reliable than a SS amplifier.

From experience owning many many amplifiers, I would avoid going the route of tube amplifiers, especially if you're running a budget. It's easy to get caught up in "tube rolling" and you'll end up flushing a ton of money into it. Additionally, tube amplifiers are far far less reliable than a SS amplifier.

I'm not sure what you mean by "less reliable". I've never had any issues with mine.

Ok my HE-500s arrived 30 minutes ago and I've been listening to it for 10 minutes. I like them so far but I need to start adding to my FLAC library.

-I not familiar with these things but just curious how good of quality are music bought from itunes?

-If I convert music from CDs using itunes, is it worse than FLAC or same?

-What are the best websites to buy music in FLAC format?

-If there are no sites that have the music I want, is the safest way to make sure they're lossless is to buy the CD then convert them myself? I remembered illegally downloading what these uploaders called FLAC/Lossless but I don't trust them because a lot of people can advertise something then lie about it or they're bad quality so I never download from these sites/forums again. Also what made me suspicious is I noticed when playing music I bought, it plays at normal sound in my car using music on my iphone but when I played music I illegally downloaded I had to turn up the volume a lot to get the same volume.

-Best free programs to convert music to FLAC?

why use flac? if u have the original CD/LP just use the free program 'audiograbber' (download from www.filehippo.com), it bypasses ur PC soundcard to copy tracks form ur source (CD/LP) to wav and so produces a 100% perfect copy to ur pc.... i only listen to FLAC when i cant get a WAV version of it...lately i had been replacing all my mp3's, even the 320bps, for lossless flac or wav version if i could find/buy them...

ur he500 likes lossless very much if u have a amp and source who is very good in soundstage, instruments placement, width and details..

in general i prefer Wav over Flac..and u can cut (in separate tracks based on cue file and/or time) the wav file very easily to ur likings with free to get programs (like Helium audio splitter) which do the job well.

when i dont want (because most of tracks are rubbish and i only like one or 2 songs) or can't buy (sold out/rare) the cd, i download it from www.piratebay.org (tip: google for 'unblocked piratebay') ..for most of us its blocked by the provider unfortunately...BUT..

if ur provider blocks/monitors their site:...1 week ago they just came out with their own browser which bypasses any blocks/monitoring ur provider uses...just google for it: piratebay browser...on that site i found an extremely rare 24bit WAV vinyl Queen recording it was almost 3GB big! but the sound on my he500 (especially with the jerg pads!)..unbelievable!!

just to be clear... i only use piratebay to find those hidden gems u cant buy anymore! like a Micheal Jackson LP (lossless flac) that only came out in Japan..(i think it was called:1st japanese pressing or something)

From experience owning many many amplifiers, I would avoid going the route of tube amplifiers, especially if you're running a budget. It's easy to get caught up in "tube rolling" and you'll end up flushing a ton of money into it. Additionally, tube amplifiers are far far less reliable than a SS amplifier.

I'm not sure what you mean by "less reliable". I've never had any issues with mine.

Obviously, a somewhat generalization (due to many different units), but any amplifier design that has a tube in it will have more problems than one that is purely solid state.

Obviously, a somewhat generalization (due to many different units), but any amplifier design that has a tube in it will have more problems than one that is purely solid state.

i dont know where u get that info from...maybe because of info about bad constructed cheapish tube amps?..i know of quality (expensive) tube (guitar) amps/tube radios being more then 40 years old and still going strong! only real problems that could occur are with the tubes or the adapters in which u plug in the tubes (but these are easy to be replaced..and tube amps are in general less complicated to be repaird then ur average SS amp with their minimizing components)...older SS amps have their own problems also with transistors etc...but i agree completely on one thing......cheapish tube amps tend to be less reliable then cheapish SS amps..as tube amps as tube amps tend to be more expensive to manufactur then ur regular SS amp...and so a 300usd SS amp is much more reliable normally then a 300 usd (chinese?) tube amp.

The yulong seems sweet looking. I don't see a lot of take about them especially with the HE500. I see the A18 and the D100 (combine with an amp) more with the HE500.

Yulong's amps go in this order of lowest to highest: D100 -- A100 -- A18. It's a great amp that was optimized much as possible for the price. I would advise against the D100 personally since its usually not a good idea to have DAC and amp in the same box. Especially if you plan on upgrading. You won't find a better quality amp at that price for the HE-500s IMO.

Ok my HE-500s arrived 30 minutes ago and I've been listening to it for 10 minutes. I like them so far but I need to start adding to my FLAC library.

-I not familiar with these things but just curious how good of quality are music bought from itunes?

-If I convert music from CDs using itunes, is it worse than FLAC or same?

-What are the best websites to buy music in FLAC format?

-If there are no sites that have the music I want, is the safest way to make sure they're lossless is to buy the CD then convert them myself? I remembered illegally downloading what these uploaders called FLAC/Lossless but I don't trust them because a lot of people can advertise something then lie about it or they're bad quality so I never download from these sites/forums again. Also what made me suspicious is I noticed when playing music I bought, it plays at normal sound in my car using music on my iphone but when I played music I illegally downloaded I had to turn up the volume a lot to get the same volume.

-Best free programs to convert music to FLAC?

Thanks to everyone who answered but anyone else wanna add some responses too? Also I have been listening to my new babies for the past few hours and I am loving them more and more! Plus they will get better too with burn in? OmG